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Yesterday, we Christians celebrated the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the tomb. He triumphed over death and in the process of crucifixion, death, and resurrection, gave us a pathway to a personal relationship with God. Without His sacrifice, our sin was in the way of that relationship.

I wonder how we can use that message and example in our horsemanship and in our lives in general. How many times have we felt that we have failed in something that we cared about. In essence we lost something. Maybe our confidence, or passion, or drive? Maybe it was a friendship or other relationship that we thought was solid until an event caused it to end abruptly? No matter what it was, no matter the cause, I wonder if part of the message of the resurrection isn’t, how do we resurrect what we lost?

Each of us will deal with that question in our own way. We need to allow ourselves to struggle through that process and find solutions that match our personality and situation. To me the important thing is that we get up each day and struggle. I believe that we find the answer that is right for us through faith that struggling will show us the doors that are closed and the door that is open. Without that struggle we wallow in a quagmire of doubt. By embracing the struggle, we find a sense of purpose. We develop a work ethic and confidence that there is an answer and we will find it! We turn the loss of something important to us into a new and important purpose. We resurrect our loss into something as good or better. Trust in your ability to go through the process. Have confidence that the answer is there to find.

Some of our horses are the same way. They have lost their confidence. Our job is to resurrect that confidence. We allow them to struggle through a process where they learn to find answers. We start with easier questions so they know they can find solutions and work toward the more difficult. We show them that we have faith in them. We show them that we have confidence that they can make it. Our faith and confidence in them will one day translate into a belief in themselves. What a great way to build a personal relationship!

Tom Dorrance was a reader I’m told. He recommended books to his students that outwardly had little to do with “horsemanship” but had lots to do with becoming a better horseman. I’m guessing that Tom’s hope was that as people understood more about the animal kingdom and themselves, they would be better able to understand what goes on between them. We know from our experiences with people and their horses, as people change, their horses change. The horse reflects the human.

We took a trip to Arizona to see some family. Everyone is getting older and we don’t take the time to travel very much so, it had been 5 years since we’d seen an elderly aunt and my brother’s family. Our nephews are top level archers. They shoot compound bows and spend a lot of time drilling the center of targets with their arrows. These boys….young men…are in their teens and early twenties, highly intelligent, and spend as much time thinking about how to become better archers as they do practicing. As we visited about the mental aspects of archery and competition, they talked about some coaching they had been getting from an Olympic archer, Judi Adams, and one of her colleagues, Debbie Crews. Believe it or not, horses were involved in helping archers become more centered and more focused leading to better scoring. There was some pretty cool technology involved as well. One nephew was using a headset that helped him understand how to use his brain and thoughts to improve outcomes in his archery. And, that understanding is helping him in other areas of his life too!

Here are a few excerpts from an excellent article written by Judi and Debbie:

If you just believe in yourself, the arrow will go in the middle.” “You need to trust your shot.” “Confidence is the key to winning.” “If you have faith, it will all turn out okay.” How many of us have heard these words from our coaches, parents, and teachers? And how many of us answered, “But I am not confident, I am not sure how to believe, how can I trust myself when I keep messing up?

Trust is described as Confidence; Confidence is dependent on “belief which does not require proof” which is the exact definition of Faith. All these words are vague descriptions that we readily understand when applied to others we have observed, but we stress ourselves trying to inculcate them into our own being. And so it should not surprise us that the very struggle with attaining these concepts is linked to the fact that the words themselves are intrinsically plagued with doubt (a feeling of uncertainty).

To know is at the center of Confidence, Belief, Trust and Faith. It is clear that we are more confident, and have stronger belief, trust, and faith when we know. To know, assumes no uncertainty or doubt. What do you know? The more you know, the less doubt you have.

To see the whole article, we’ve posted it with permission at https://www.facebook.com/Bridle.Bit.LLC/ The diagrams in the article wouldn’t copy and paste so, if you’d like to see a version with the diagrams, email us and we’ll send you a copy.

The parallels between shooting an arrow well and riding a horse well were amazing to me. We hope you enjoy the article!

It’s one of those mornings where I woke up pretty tipped-up. You know what I’m talking about if you’ve had a day where your spouse avoids you, the horses run to the other end of the corral when you approach, and your dogs lay in their beds and stay very, very quiet. I’m one of those people that attempts to stay pretty even tempered. I try to avoid allowing myself to rise with the highs and fall with the lows. I fail miserably, and often, but, nevertheless, that’s my goal. I’ve found over the years that it’s just easier for me to try to maintain the facade so I and the folks around me don’t have to deal with the goofball on a high or the man in the dumpster on a low.

The facade works pretty well with most people. It doesn’t work well at all with most horses. The horses I’ve spent time around have a keen ability to know exactly what’s going on inside me. Sometimes they alert me to things going on inside that even I had failed to recognize. I’m not educated in psychology but, after spending a good bit of time helping people with their horses and seeing the horses improve as the people improved, I know that there is a real connection between the inside of a human and the behavior of the horse.

We have the opportunity to work with a therapeutic riding program horses, instructors, and volunteers. One of the big issues in a program like that is that the horses take on so much of what clients bring both physically and emotionally. The horses get burnt out. Not from the physical exertion of walking or trotting around an arena but, from the things that are going on inside the clients. The horses are healers. They are willingly taking the “stuff” from inside a client into themselves and find a way to deal with it. Some are better than others at dealing. We try to find ways to help those horses having trouble find an outlet for letting go of the “stuff”.

If we allow ourselves to heighten our awareness of our horses’ reaction to us, we have a better chance of recognizing who we are at that moment. If we recognize who we are, we have the opportunity to make changes for the better. Our horse is the most honest reflection of who we really are. The good new for people like me is that I don’t have to remain who I am today. I can work on me until my horse says, I respect what you’ve become. Let’s go for a ride!!

We had the opportunity to ride with some really great folks this past Saturday at our Winter Series, Refining Our Horsemanship Clinic. Everyone was trying hard to understand what their horses needed from them. Sometimes it was a doing a little more to get a horse to search. Sometimes it was doing a lot less to give the horse the opportunity to show how much they can do for us. We worked on becoming aware of when we had succeeded in getting our horse to think about what we wanted. Then, we worked on the timing of our release for that thought.

When we rode in Ray Hunt’s clinics he would talk about how to look and feel for what it takes to get the horse to understand what we’re asking. He talked about how sometimes it would take all we had to get our point across but, other times, it would take the littlest thing and they’d be right there. To us, refinement in our horsemanship has taken the form of seeing how little we can do. Looking for ways to get our thought to become their thought. Changing their mind and then getting out of the way so our horse can do our thing their way. We’ve worked on becoming aware of our horses feet and how to get in time with them.

At the clinic, I watched Amy ride a horse that was struggling with his right side. This gelding was always wanting to look left and pushing his shoulder and rib cage out to the right. He is 10 years old and had been in this frame for quite a few years. When Amy first began her ride she thought it would take quite a little time to get him out of such a strong habit. But, to Amy’s and our surprise, the gelding came through after just a little bit. Amy’s timing must have been fitting to what the he needed. She must have felt what the gelding was thinking he needed to do and changed his mind. The straightness that Amy offered must have felt good to the him because once he knew through Amy’s release that it was okay to travel that way, he stayed there on his own. Amy’s experience helped. She knew what she was looking for. She would allow the gelding to run into his own pressure when he wasn’t right and would release as the gelding thought about getting right. Amy’s timing was good…..according to the horse!

Tom Dorrance and Ray Hunt showed us years ago that feel, timing, and balance were the keys to creating good communication with our horses. It was true then, it’s true today. We don’t need to look for anything else!

One thing that will keep you from getting into trouble with your horse is if you “ride the horse you have today”. When we look back at a bad day with our horses, we may discover memories of signs that, had we paid attention, could have prevented our unpleasant encounter. Being that horseman that has good situational awareness and adjusts to what is rather than what we wish for can mean the difference between a good ride and a bad one.

A “bad day” story may sound like: Yeah, ol’ roanie was a little hard to catch that morning….I pulled him off the best, greenest pasture we have and away from that mare he’s so fond of. There was a little ear pinning when I cinched him up but, when I rode him 3 months ago, he was fine. He did walk off from the tie rack with his tail swishing and a big ol’ hump in his back but, when I moved him around a little he only kicked at the cinches once or twice. Come to think of it, he did have a big ol’ brace on that left side….not good remembrances from a convalescent bed!

A “bad day” turned into a “good day” may sound more like this: Yeah, ol’ roanie was going to be a little hard to catch so I took my time and made sure that he was catching me before we left the pasture. A couple of days ago I noticed he was getting pretty attached to our mare so, I moved her to another pen hoping that would help today’s ride go better. It had been most of the winter since we last rode so, I took some extra time with the grooming. I kept ahold of roanie so I could move him around me and my brushes hoping he’d get a feel for me again. When I put my saddle on his back, I took a little time to rub on him and I did a double check on how things were fitting since our last ride. I brought those cinches up easy and just tight enough to keep the saddle from rolling and then I moved him around me a little to see what he thought about things. I noticed a brace on that left side so, I took some time to work that out and make sure that left rein was working on that left hind foot. By the time I was ready to step on, ol’ roanie had blown two or three times and yawned. He looked like a horse that wanted to go with me. We had a great ride!

As we all get ready for Spring, now may be a good time to start assessing our tack, our pastures, and our horses. Getting back into the habit of thinking about what kind of situations we want to try to create to make our riding season one of the best ever! Looking forward to seeing all of you soon!!

We like to remember. We remember our first good friend, our first teacher, and our first love. We remember the folks that have helped us along our way and the folks that have not. We hold on to those memories. Sometimes they are in the forefront of our thoughts, triggered by an event or a song, smell or something familiar. Other times our memories are hidden somewhere in the depths of our minds like an old friend we lost contact with.

Horses remember too. They remember everything! That’s why a good start in the halter leads to an easier start under saddle and a good start under saddle leads to a more confident horse in any discipline. Horses remember how things feel. They also remember being scared from a bad experience, over confinement, or from the over use of force. They remember how to fight when their flight response is taken away from them.

The good news is, most horses are very forgiving. We know from working with hundreds of horses that have had less than a perfect life. When these horses are offered something that feels good to them, something they understand, they find a way to bury the past. They don’t forget, they forgive and bury. If we offer them the things they understand in a way that makes them feel safe, they will choose to react in a way that helps us do our job.

A good horseman will do their best to forget any unfavorable encounters with the horses they work with. We need to have confidence in our ability to learn from our mistakes and create better learning environments for our horse partners. If we applied pressure in a way that caused a blow-up, we need to think of ways to get our job done without crossing that line again. We look for the subtle signals from our horses that allow us to expose them to things they need to know and still stay on this side of trouble. We also need to forgive and trust that given our new knowledge, everything will work out for the best. We need to leave the past in the past.

On a day when the high temperature is in the twenties and snow is in the air it’s hard to believe that Spring will be here soon. Spring brings with it the promise of new life and new beginnings. Foals and calves are born, flowers pop up from once frozen ground, and tree buds open to show us this years leaf crop.

Yesterday, we brought in the yearlings we’ll be running this year. That represents a new cattle beginning for us this year. Last years yearlings did their job of growing and getting bred. They’ll go on to become mother cows bringing new life to this world each spring. I went to the ranch that raised the cattle we bought to help them haul the cattle to our place. It was an opportunity to get a second look at the cattle we were purchasing and, even better, an opportunity to meet more of the people that cared for the cow herd and raised the calves. That’s where I met Kathy and her husband Ron.

Kathy and I got to talking about horses….imagine that! She has been riding her whole life. She was getting along fine but, attended a clinic given by a well known clinician who traveled to our area. She said it was like starting over. I know what she means! When Amy and I first met Ray Hunt, he could have been speaking Latin for all we understood. Kathy and I got to talking about how interesting it was that even an older horse could understand what we were saying when we got onto speaking their language. It was like a new beginning in our relationship! Kathy was experiencing that with her older gelding. The new language she was learning made sense to her gelding and he was liking the way she was talking to him. It doesn’t matter how old we are or the age of the horse we are working with, it’s never too late for a new beginning!

We were flipping through channels yesterday, trying to catch-up with what is going on in the rest of the world. We like to learn from other’s perspectives. On one of the Sunday morning talk shows a U.S. Senator was being interviewed. He was asked about a lot of different things. His answers were straightforward and appeared to be from his heart as well as his mind. I don’t even remember what the context of his remark was but, what he said was profound and could apply to a lot of different areas of our lives. I’ll paraphrase here because I don’t want to misquote him. I heard him say that, it’s not always about winning; it matters how you get there. Wow! Something we truly believe coming from a sitting Senator!

We’ve lived our lives on that pretext. It really does matter how you get there. It matters how you treat the people that come into your life and it matters how you feel about things happening around you. It matters how you deal with the good and the bad. It’s not about winning the contest, it’s how you play the game.

It matters to our horses how we get there. Because they live what they learn and learn what they live, each moment of the journey with their human matters. For them, it’s not about winning because it’s not about a contest. It’s how the offer is made, how the problem is presented, and how it feels when the right solution is found. There is enough struggle between horse and human in trying to understand each other without making working with our horse a contest. Learn how to live in the moment, deal with the present, and enjoy the way you get there!

Sunday, after chores, we made our monthly trek to Cheyenne for groceries. I like to shop at the Sam’s Club up there because I’m not overwhelmed by too many choices of each item we need.

One of the items we needed this trip was toothpaste. That’s a product that has changed considerably in just my short time here on earth. When I was a kid, we were told that we needed to brush our teeth so they stayed healthy and didn’t fall out. We needed to maintain healthy gums and teeth by brushing twice daily. As we stood there looking at our choices and trying to remember what we had bought last time, we were struck by the marketing message on the toothpaste and how it had changed. Now, instead of, brush your teeth to save them, the message is brush your teeth to make them whiter and your breath fresher.

We understand that if we want healthy teeth, brushing versus not brushing is not a real question. But, it got us thinking about how we think about brushing versus how other folks might think about it. I need to have meaning and purpose behind the things I do each day or I don’t see value in doing them. Both Amy and I think about the foundation of our projects and how it will support the look of that project in the end. Putting a shine on our teeth without supporting the health of our teeth and gums just wouldn’t make sense to us.

Our horses thrive when they are given the chance to build a strong foundation. Holes in that foundation, like cavities in our teeth, weaken their chance to lead healthy, productive lives when interacting with humans. Trying to put a “finish” on a horse that doesn’t have a good start is like trying to put a shine on a rotten tooth. It might look good for a while but, pretty soon it’s going to fall apart. That’s why we’re always going back to check our horses foundation and filling in the holes. We want a horse that shines from the gum to the crown!

This weekend, we took some time to attend the Colorado Cowboy Poetry Gathering held in Golden, Colorado. Music and poetry that is rooted in our lifestyle appeals to us. To have the opportunity to relax and listen to a bunch of it, all in one place, in the dead of winter, was too good to pass up. We had never been to a cowboy poetry gathering before. We didn’t know what to expect. What we found was a room full of artists and fans that had the love of the western United States and the tales that have sprung from it in common. There was a real comradery amongst all the attendees.

The amount of talent possessed by the artists was phenomenal. Guitar, fiddle, banjo, mandolin, bass fiddle and voices blended to weave a tapestry of tales that drew us into the songs and poems. These artists are good. They are masters of their craft. They had obviously put in the time and miles to get really good at what they love. Their love of what they do was the only thing that outshone their talents. In spite of all of this talent, we saw no ego. We saw people that believed that they needed to keep “working on it”. The artists roamed the halls between performances visiting with the spectators. If we hadn’t known who the artists were, we couldn’t have told you who was who.

For us, egotistical people are not people we would choose to spend a lot of time around. We believe that you can master your craft, and pass on some of what you’ve learned, without ego. We’ve been blessed with the opportunity to do what we love to make a living. That has given us more time to spend with horses and cattle than the average horse owner. We’ve tried to use that time to get better at what we love. Not to be better than other people but, to be as good as we can regardless of what others are doing. Being quietly confident in what we do is not the best way to attract large groups of people to our business but, at least we have a business that matches us and what we believe. We hope that when we have the opportunity to help someone with their horse or their horsemanship, we leave them with the same feeling we got from the Colorado Cowboy Poetry Gathering. A feeling of having spent quality time with people we can relate to, doing something we really love.

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Bridle Bit Training and Tack, LLC is a full-service equine facility! The Bridle Bit team is made up of Amy, Steve, and Ben LeSatz. When you deal with us, you can be assured that we take the reputation of the business in all we do.